1. Field Of Invention
This invention relates to a cooling and aerating bait or fish containing water which is maintained in its natural state in a suitable container.
2. Brief Description Of The Previous Art
To preserve fishing bait or fish, the same must be contained in a natural water environment in which both the temperature and oxygen content must be controlled within the tolerable levels to which the bait and fish are naturally accustomed.
Once acquired, the bait and fish may be transported in several ways. Frequently used are insulated buckets containing lake or river water and some buckets have aerating means to maintain or increase the oxygen content of the water used.
Ice is commonly used as a cooling agent but commercially made ice generally contains chlorine, flourine and other chemicals which are fatal to bait and fish and further most waters supplied for human use contain chemicals, such as chlorine, which cause the death of aquatic life. More often than not, no effort is made to precisely control temperature as well as the oxygen content of the water containing bait and fish and both of these elements require precise control to preserve bait and fish in an alive condition. As is known, the temperature of water is inversely proportional to the amount of oxygen that the water contains and this is commonly overlooked by a fisherman in carrying his bait and fish about. It is a common practice for fisherman to fill his bait and/or fish bucket from a water source such as a lake at his fishing site and in summer the surface water is relatively hot and oxygen depleted which is a thermal shock to bait and fish which are accustomed to deeper cool water having an adequate oxygen content.
It is extremely difficult for a fisherman to duplicate the natural condition of water that is maintained such as by a bait dealer.
In the present economic situation, bait is expensive but more important, it is essential for satisfactory fishing to maintain the bait in an alive condition for fishing purposes and particularly, for the duration of a fishing trip.
As to the reference material of which there is knowledge, electrical energized refrigeration systems are known to maintain fish tanks and these are not portable and are clearly distinguishable from the situation of the invention disclosed herein.